Academia Is Engagement, Not Indoctrination
Sean MurphyI remember first learning I wasn't white my second year of college. Well, not really white. By that I mean that I encountered other white people—men from small towns south of northern…
Wayne Shorter on Thelonious Monk & More…
Wayne Shorter performs with his quartet at the 2008 Vitoria-Gasteiz Jazz Festival in Basque Country, Spain. Insights into music, mental illness, iconoclasm, and a particular American Genius i. First off,…
When Bruce Became Boss: Born To Run at 50
In a rather counterintuitive turn of events, the fact that the first two albums didn’t make as much noise as they could (or should) have ended up being the best…
Big Shot: Making a Case for Billy Joel
Five hours is a lot of time to spend with Billy Joel. But it’s worth it. And he deserves it. He’s earned that, as far as I’m concerned. For all…
Why We Keep Returning to Stories: A Conversation with The Atlantic’s Emma Sarappo
If you’re a writer, editor, teacher, critic — or just a serious reader — you know the conversation around what counts as “great literature” is always evolving. And it should…
Never Say Die: Ozzy into the Void
He accomplished everything he was put here to do. And more. He didn't merely change music, and the world, for the better, he shifted history, like a cultural tectonic plate:…
F with the Formula: Brian Wilson as Antidote for Cynicism
Brian Wilson could hear everything. The miraculous sounds in his mind. The sound of history being made in real time: a recording studio the laboratory where he worked on his…
Ennio Morricone, The Master
Certain things are anathema to the mature writer: hyperbole, cliché, groupthink, money—just kidding, (mostly). Sometimes, and the instances are rare enough to be exceptions to the rule, one can speak…
St. Elmo’s: Where Every Day is 1985
Forty years ago, this week, a movie that in many ways belongs on the Mt. Rushmore of misguided ‘80s fantasy/camp/delusion/propaganda (along with Top Gun, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, and Scarface) as films…
Lalo Schifrin: Sound & Vision
When one of the best albums of the '90s dropped, pretty much out of nowhere, after instant fans (like this writer) realized their sonic world had been at once obliterated…